Football, diving and racism

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October 11, 2012 by Archy

Diving and Racism are considered to be a cancer to the footballing world  and have seen to grow in stature over the past couple of years once again yet none of the major footballing authorities are taking a single step in the right direction.

Diving (simulation is the term used by  FIFA) is an attempt by a player to gain an unfair advantage by diving to the ground and possibly feigning an injury, to appear as if a foul has been committed. Football these days is played at a pretty frantic pace and in that fraction of a second it is possible that a player goes down with minmal/no contact in order to get his team the advantage. Yes, it is upto the player to show honesty and play with respect, but if you ask me in a world cup final , in order to get his team the winner or get the penalty to equilise he would achieve it by any means especially since there is no punishment attached to it. Here is where the authorities and referees come in. They should make it a point that if there were any accusations of diving in a match and hand out a healthy ban. There is no point for the opposition managers to blame the referee after the match, as it is impossible for the referees to know in real time, they just have to go with their instincts. Therefore In order to eradicate it completely, stern action has to be taken against the player, say for example start with a 1 match ban with some dollars to go along with it. The next time the same player does it ban him for 5 games and 3^rd time if the same player repeats it within a season, ban him for like 9-10 months. If the player even goes down in the fraction of a second to win his team the penalty, he’ll have the punishment at the back of his head and there are more chances of him being honest about it. It makes no sense for the pundits to keep going on about it–“Back in my day, nobody would even think of doing it because it’s a man’s game, we use to play with respect” and what not. Back in the day footballers used to walk on the field so it makes no sense comparing it to what happened in the past but instead look to the future. Diving these days is talked about in seminars, in forums, in FIFA meetings, if it is such a big deal, just give the player a lengthy ban if he is found to dive often, investigate it after the match. If you can investigate elbows and conduct disciplinary proceedings after, you can surely do this.

Another leper in the footballing world is racism. Racism involves the belief in racial differences, which acts as a justification for non-equal treatment (which some regard as “discrimination”) of members of that race. The term is commonly used negatively and is usually associated with race-based prejudice, violence, dislike, discrimination, or oppression, the term can also have varying and contested definitions. Racialism is a related term, sometimes intended to avoid these negative meanings. But in football, I would say there is only partial racism, because white and black players play and represent the club equally and there is no discrimination of power based on the person’s color but what exists to a large extent are abuses at the opposition highlighting the race. Lets take for example the Evra-Suarez row, it was proved without much fuss the Suarez had used the term ‘nigger’, hence the 8-match ban; a good punishment and therefore the topic should have had some closure. He is not a racist because he is playing with black players in his team without any ego or power problems, the only problem came because he used a racist term. Comments were flying in  support of Suarez that he is not a racist with even his manager coming out as if he did not understand the fuss around it. You abuse the player, you try to play with his mind, all these negative tactics are part of the game, but when you bring color into the picture, it’s a different level all together, if he did not want to get into trouble he shouldn’t have uttered those words in front of a million people. Same goes for the Terry-Ferdinand row, there is abosolutely no point of saying, Terry is a good man. He will be and I am pretty sure of that but a tirade highlighting the race is a very bad idea. There will be many people in this world who would use such abuses highlighting the race amongst friends and within a small group at the same time having no problems with people of different color but what the footballers should know by now is that their every move is monitored, racist or not, it is absolute dumbness to abuse highlighting the race. Apologise, move on and never repeat it again. The authorities like FIFA and UEFA have hoardings and slogans “Say No to Racism” but when the things happens in real, they do not have a proper punishment, Suarez got an eight match ban, terry got only four and there are few people waiting for Terry to even appeal the ban. It’s an absolute disgrace. For an organization having more nations under it than the UN itself, this is pretty basic. “Any player found guilty of using a racist term or bringing the color of a person into the picture, ban him for 9-10 matches and if found again ban him for 1-2 years, that is how sensitive the topic is and the players should know that.

Say no to racism, and ban diving if it’s causing so much of a fuss.  The point being there is no point talking about these matters on & on when it’s happening on a weekly basis. Instead take action, Respect the player and your opponent.

Football, the world’s most beautiful game forever and always.

Aamer Aslam